Successful Righting Of Médiatis Région Aquitaine

WSSRC Record Attempt

Over the weekend the technical team of Médiatis Région Aquitaine worked relentlessly to perform the extremely delicate operation of righting the boat in swells of two to three metres.

To right a multihull causing the least possible damage, it is necessary to sink the back of the boat by flooding the crossbeam and the back of the hulls. It is then necessary to ballast the back of the boat with metal weights (chains and cables). The team then fixes two slings to the front of the catamaran and begins to pull the boat at a slow speed. As the back is ballasted it sinks into the sea, cartwheels, and the catamaran turns through 180 °.

On Saturday evening the team successfully completed the precarious operation after five or six difficult attempts.

On Sunday, the team had to empty the water out of the catamaran with buckets as the pump could not be offloaded by the tug boat, because of the sea conditions.

Aboard the tug boat, the technical team is tired but relieved: the team work worked well and nobody is hurt.

According to Romaric NEYHOUSSER, joined by telephone yesterday morning, 'the catamaran is damaged. We saved the main part in spite of the swell from two to three metres. We were lucky that the operations take place relatively fast. Today, we have the sea with us, therefore better conditions to bring back Médiatis Région Aquitaine.'

The tow boat, Iron Bull, now heads on to the Canaries Islands at a speed of ten knots. The team should reach the port of Las Palmas today around 1600 hours local time.

Skipper, Yves PARLIER (FRA) suffered three broken vertebras and a broken rib. He leaves for Las Palmas tomorrow to support his team and make a first inventory of the damages.